Capt. Johnson Delivers a Stern Lecture to the Media in Ferguson

In a tense, middle-of-the night press conference early Tuesday morning, Missouri Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson lectured members of the media about safety and implored them to assist law enforcement in calming tensions in the city.

After reporting that two individuals had been shot and several police officers injured during another night of protests in response to last week’s shooting of Michael Brown, Johnson showed members of the media items that law enforcement officials had confiscated during the previous night’s protests including a Molotov cocktail, fireworks that had been thrown into a crowd, and two guns. Johnson said the guns were confiscated from individuals who shot at an apartment complex from their vehicle, which was then stopped near the media staging area. He said journalists were swarming the car to snap pictures as officers were trying to secure the weapons, making the confrontation even more dangerous.

Johnson said that when the media is asked to relocate, it is for their own safety or to facilitate law enforcement operations.

“I’d ask you not to glamourize their activities,” Johnson said of the protesters who were bent on illegal activities and provoking confrontations with police. There were 31 arrests on Monday night along with several fires set by protesters around the city.

Johnson described the volatile situation on the ground. “You were out there. You saw the chaos. You saw the shootings. We had officers in the midst of gunfire. In the midst of gunfire! And I guarantee you that the officers’ wives and husbands and parents are calling them now,” an emotional Johnson said. “I stood there and heard on the radio the screams of the officers who were under gunfire. I got back to our SWAT vehicle and saw the gentleman laying in the back who had been shot. I saw a car pull up and drop a gentleman off who had been shot in the hand that was dazed walking down the street.” Capt. Johnson added, “We can’t have this. We do not want any citizen hurt. We do not want any officers hurt. But when you’re shooting at apartment complexes and children are laying in the bed in apartment complexes and bullets are flying through the air, the saying on the street is, ‘a bullet has no name.’ We do not want to lose another life in this community.”

This is the same man who said 'Yep, my teen wears his hat to the side, his pants down on this butt".....well, surely Captain Johnson did not get hired with his 'hat to the side and his pants on his butt and using ebonics"......Where are the grownups !

It's what passes for "culture" in so much of the "Black community" these days that should be under scrutiny, but oh no, couldn't have that or even mention it. As for Johnson, his agenda seems to be mostly Johnson as he sure seems to be doing a lot of angling..

What makes Captain Johnson think that the media wants to calm things down.

The Palace Guard doesn't care about keeping the peace. If they did, they wouldn't be stirring things up and actively ruining the life of a police officer who was simply protecting himself from another drug-fueled, enraged thug.

The Palace Guard is doing their electioneering for the marxists in November. It's as simple as that. They are the ones who should be persecuted, not the innocent policeman.

This captain spent the first few days coddling the rioters and explaining away their looting and criminal conduct. He is there as the Democrat law enforcement guy, brought in by the Democrat Governor to replace the local police and the county police who were not under Democrat control. This police captain is a major part of the problem.

Nobody in an official capacity that I have seen or heard has told the protestors to go home and let the system get its job done. Nobody has told the protestors that looting is against the law and those caught doing it are criminals and there is no excuse for it. Nobody in an official capacity that I have heard has defended the local police and stated that they have a job to do and Darren Wilson is just as much entitled to justice as Michael Brown. And Darren Wilson is not a known criminal as Michael Brown is now.